


What Are the Chances?

by tarnishedpeonies



Series: Cliffjumper Week [7]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Cliffjumper Week 2020, Gen, Unexpected Visitors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28819899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarnishedpeonies/pseuds/tarnishedpeonies
Summary: In New York City you never know whose going to drop in.
Series: Cliffjumper Week [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108910
Kudos: 10
Collections: Cliffjumper Week (2020)





	What Are the Chances?

The noise from the club edged into Cliffjumper’s concentration. He was watching the alley across the street where Raoul was undercover, trying to get some information. Tracks was back at the Ark under Ratchet’s care. The human was absolutely clear: Cliffjumper was to wait until he came back, and then they might need to leave very quickly. Cliff was keeping his engine warm, in case he needed to sprint.

“Well hello there,” a human called from the sidewalk in front of the club. “You got a fare? I’d like to get out of here if you’re free.”

At that exact moment Cliffjumper saw Raoul coming out of the alleyway, running. Scrap. The human on his passenger side opened the door and sprawled in, either not noticing, or not _caring_ that there wasn’t anyone in the driver’s seat until Raoul dove into the open door. “Go, go, go!” Both doors slammed shut and Cliffjumper went.

“Whoa!” The startled human in his passenger seat gripped the arm rest inside the door, but Cliffjumper didn’t slow down, dodging onto side-streets and over main roads until he could tell no one was tailing them. “What a ride, but I didn’t even tell you where I needed to go yet,” the unexpected passenger mused. “Can you get me back to the Waldorf Astoria?”

“Cliffjumper who is this guy?”

“I don’t know, he just opened the door and sat down!”

“Is this car talking?”

“Yes,” came the emphatic answer from Raoul and Cliffjumper. “And he’s not just a car, he’s a robot,” Raoul concluded. “And why would you just get in a strange car, man?”

“I thought it was a taxi,” the stranger explained calmly. “Are you saying it isn’t? A robot can’t be a taxi?”

Cliffjumper could hear Raoul struggling with what to say next. “Man I don’t know where you’re from, but it must not be New York, because the taxis here are yellow. But a robot can be whatever a robot wants - well. Within reason. Most of them need to copy something that’s got four wheels. All the ones I’m friends with, anyways,” Raoul reasoned. “But we can get you where you’re going. I don’t know what you took at that club, but it must have been bitchin’.”

The stranger was pretty calm for someone who had just stumbled into a sapient car and was getting driven Primus knows where. “So, Raoul, where’s the Wilfred Auditorium?”

“The _Waldorf Astoria_ Cliffjumper, it’s - keep going straight, and then in three blocks take a right.” Raoul continued to direct him from there, and they fell into pleasant conversation with their new guest.

He was an artist, he said, though he admitted to being best known for his music. In New York visiting friends, and had gone with them to the club but found it not his speed. “It’s a god awful small affair,” he mused, seeming to find humor in the statement. “But you didn’t hear that from me. Ah. That’s the spot,” he mused as they stopped in front of the hotel’s covered entrance. “What’s the total?”

“Twenty dollars, sir,” Raoul hustled, and got it too.

“I just want to know your name,” Cliffjumper asked.

The man laughed. “David, Bowie. Have a nice night, yeah?” He patted Cliffjumper’s hood and turned to go inside.

Cliffjumper pulled back into traffic. Raoul was utterly silent. “He’s that big a deal huh? I guess that means no one’s gonna believe us back at base.” Well, maybe Tracks, but that was because he’d believe _Raoul_ , not because he’d believe Cliff.

“Yeah man, he’s _that_ big a deal.” The red mech would have to make due with finding some of David Bowie’s music to appreciate the odd memory.


End file.
